Officials agree change needed at county library

A civil grand jury report critical of Marin County library operations was embraced at the Civic Center as top officials indicated change is in the works.

The Board of Supervisors agreed with or called for more study of most jury observations about library affairs, a departure from business as usual in which criticism is often downplayed, deflected, challenged or rejected.

As Librarian Sara Jones, Nevada's 2012 co-librarian of the year who took command of the county library just last week, watched without comment, the board on Tuesday routinely approved the administration's analysis. It agreed with four jury findings, disagreed "wholly or partially" with four others, said five recommendations will be implemented and three others studied further.

The grand jury's probe of the county library this year was particularly biting, with jurors contending that oversight of an annual $2.5 million library parcel tax fund was ineffective, plagued by "lack of involvement" from a library commission that operates in the dark with a fragmented budget that makes expenses difficult to track.

The county Library Commission, appointed by county supervisors in 2010 as the independent panel voters were promised would audit Marin's $49 Measure A parcel tax, has done little to fulfill its oversight role, with "input ... limited to twice yearly reports from the library administration," the jury concluded, adding the panel has no communication with county supervisors.

Further, "expenditures of Measure A funds are difficult to track," the jury observed, noting that the library administration failed to provide either a separate line item budget of special tax fund expenditures or an overall program outlining "planning, budgeting and scheduling" of future improvements. "Line items for Measure A expenditures are not in the Marin County Library budget," the jury said. "Income from Measure A is displayed as a lump sum. The outflow seems to cover the entire budget deficit."

The Board of Supervisors' response to these criticisms: "Agree."

Speaking of Measure A expenditures, the board added, "The library needs to do a better job of showing how the Measure A funds are being used to benefit the communities," which include improvements such as facility upgrades, enhanced hours, reduced fines and maintaining services. "The library will work to improve this transparency."

Despite criticism of a lethargic commission, which the jury said "leaves an unfilled gap in what should be proactive support for advocating needed service," supervisors last week reappointed four commission incumbents, and aside from brief comments by Susan Adams, said little this week beyond the administration's written response to the jury's work.

"Separating out how the Measure A library funds are being spent is a good recommendation," Adams noted, adding that the commission — and all other county advisory panels — should provide the board with an annual report about accomplishments, challenges and goals.

Aside from a chaotic budget, jurors portrayed the commission as having neither bark nor bite at monthly meetings they attended, saying commissioners listened to administration reports but "had virtually no discussion or dialogue on substantive issues" and "gave no feedback, offered no opinions and had no open discussions of issues."

The jury, citing "insufficient long-range library facility and services planning," noted an Independent Journal report about a 50 percent cost overrun for last-minute planning work, bringing a consultant tab to $250,000 for the design of a library lobby remodeling project. The tab soared when library officials changed their minds in midstream about what needed to be done.

The supervisors' response to the jury indicated that with a new librarian will come a new day, including improvements in communication, collaboration, planning, budgeting and oversight.

"The new library director's experience in strategic planning and fresh perspective as a newcomer from the outside will be invaluable," the response noted, calling for an annual report on planned expenditure of Measure A funds, updating a library "vision plan," and implementation or study of a number of other proposed improvements in library operations.